Eberron and the divine, a few questions...

[NekoJoker]

Hey there!

I have a few questions about the Eberron campaign setting that just popped up in my mind and can't answer since i don't have my books with me, so if you don't mind, I'll ask the great collective to clear my doubts.

it is rather simple, I heard that in the Eberron setting the gods are not concerned with the alignment of their clergy, so i was wondering how does the setting go about things like the cleric's aura of good/evil their turn/rebuke undead and the other spells that react to the presence of Good or Evil? (such as detect Evil, Protection from..., dispel... and so and so)

I would think that the whole alignment line of spells would be re-edited so as to simply delete anything concerning alignment and just provide the same benefits regardless of who casts it or against what... except for the Detec spells... those would not work I guess?

So basically that would be it I have no idea how in a world with such powerful divinations and spells an Evil cleric would be able to be a member of a Good church without rising suspecions.

Care to clear my doubts?

[Kol Korran]

it's been some time since i read the books, but i'll try to answer as best as i can. i HIGHLY suggest reading Faiths of Eberron that deals with most matters of faith and religion in a magnificent way. even if you don't liek Eberron, it's a good example how campaign religions should be approached.

first thing to understand about Eberron, is that it's alignments are much more open to interpertation. sure- the paladin uses "detect good", but it's HIS interpertation of good, i don't think we all agree with that now, do we? people cast... some spell, which they call by some name, and certain people react to it. good/ bad is just excuses they or their churches make to explain the effects...

there have been horrific things done by good churches, and benefactory things done by "evil" (i use the term very loosely, in the traditional sense) churches. one of the major nations have a considerable part of it's army made of intligent undead who happen to register as... well, evil to most spells. but they are the patriots of the country, who gave their lives, and their after lives to help protect their country, and you just try tell the populace something different!

about auras i'm not so sure. i don't think this issue was directly addressed. i'd imagine however that you can either have the aura non existent, or that it could be "turned down" (perhaps even spells to mimic the opposite?) in any case it would only matter amongst members of the same church i think, and high ranking members would usually have good bluffing skills and items to hide their... difference of opinion.

one thing to understand that actual clerics/ favored souls/ other divine casters in Eberron are EXTREMLEY rare, nearly like prohpets and holy people of their time. they are treated as unique individuals, not as "oh yeah, another one of class X", and therefore not everyone understands how they get their powers, the possible quirks or variations of their powers and so on. most of the churches, like 99.95% of them are filled with simpler classes, mostly NPC classes. a person who can actually shape reality through their belief? what a marvelous person indeed! who knows what powers they possess? how do they work? what favors do the gods grant them.

another small matter- in Eberron it's not that the gods are not concerned with the alignments of the clergy, it's that no one knows for certain if the gods EXIST. they are as real as they are in our world, meaning it's all a matter of your belief. the gods are potentially ideals, teachings, legends, myths and if you belive- a presence very much existing and real in the world.

divine casters gain their powers not from the gods, but from belief in the gods (or other ideals), or that is the theory of the heretics at least.

also- each religion is VASTLY different than the rest, originating in different ideas and concepts, and not just "God X is responsible for domain Y, and grants power Z". again, i refer you to the faiths of Eberrong book. a master piece of fantasy religions.

hope this helps.

[supermonkeyjoe]

The alignment auras and spells are handled in exactly the same way as in 3.5, the main difference is that a good cleric can have an evil aura and an evil cleric can have a good aura depending on the alignment, the given example is a cardinal of the silver flame who despite being evil has kept his position because he has an aura of good from worshipping a good god, for any spell that actually affects alignment he's treated as evil, for detection he registers as good.

There is also the fact that in Eberron, high level spellcasters are very very rare, there may be dozens of first level paladins who can run around casting detect evil but only a handful of people would be able to cast something like the 4th level spell holy smite and getting up to the 7th level holy word, Canonically I can only think of 1 character able to cast it, and only when She's in a certain location. The chances of an evil cleric being exposed by detection spells is very rare, they're more likely to be betrayed by their actions.

[Hecuba]

So basically that would be it I have no idea how in a world with such powerful divinations and spells an Evil cleric would be able to be a member of a Good church without rising suspecions.

Care to clear my doubts?

A cleric's aura is not determined by their alignment, but by that of their deity. As such, a cleric will radiate the appropriate alignment for a member of their church even if they have a diametrically opposed alignment. Only the higher level spells that hand out damage or effects based on alignments will tip their hands.